We’re up at Sideways Cottage this week, and while our intention was to do some spring cleaning, little of that has actually taken place. I have, however, been enjoying cooking in my little cabin kitchen with all my appliances and various ingredients close at hand. I do cook and make bread in town, but not to the same extent that I do up here because there just isn’t the counter space at Sideways Condo.

I love making an eggy-cheesy frittata for brunch whenever we have omnivorous guests at the cabin, so I’ve been dying to try my hand at a vegan version using Liz Miu’s dupe recipe for Just Eggs.

So this morning, I doubled her recipe and had at it! The doubled recipe calls for 250 grams of tofu, and my tofu contains 340 grams, so I sliced the extra 90 grams of tofu into ten thin strips and whipped up a bacon-flavoured marinade, so we could have some vegan bacon with our vegan frittata!

To start with, you’ll need to make some….

Eggy Seasoning Mix

This makes a very big batch, so you may want to half or quarter the recipe! You can add it to any vegan egg mixture to make it taste eggy, so I keep a small container of it in my pantry for whenever I’m making vegan eggs.

Blend in the Magic Bullet until fine and powdery:

• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 T onion powder
• 2 TBS vegan chicken broth powder
• 2 TBS T kala namak
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp turmeric

Next, make the frittata!

Sideways Cottage Vegan Frittata

First, saute for about five minutes…

• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 can of sliced mushrooms, drained

Add and saute until soft…

• 200 grams of chopped vegetables (I used broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper)

Add to the vegetables…

• 60 grams of drained canned black beans
• 1/3 cup of Daiya feta crumbles (optional)
• 8 pitted, chopped kalamata olives (optional)
• 1 tsp dried oregano (optional)

While the vegetables are sauting, blend in a high-speed blender until smooth:

• 250 grams tofu–you can use any type
• 80 grams chickpea flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 TBS of Eggy Seasoning Mix

Pour into a lightly oiled cast-iron pan heated to medium low heat and spread to the edges.

Load the sauteed vegetables, beans, etc. onto the fritatta batter and push them into the fritatta.

Cover and let cook for about fifteen minutes until the top looks dry and the edges come away from the pan.

Next, pop the pan under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top a bit. Remove from the oven and flip the frittata onto a cutting board and then flip over onto a serving plate.

While the frittata is cooking on the stove top, you can use the rest of the package of tofu to make…

Tofu Bacon

Slice the rest of the block of tofu very thinly–it should be about…

• 100 grams of tofu

Mix the following together in a bowl large enough to accomodate the tofu slices…

• 3 TBS nutritional yeast
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS water
• 1 TBS maple syrup
• 1/2 TBS liquid smoke
• 1 tsp vegan chick’n broth powder

Add the tofu and toss around to ensure all the tofu is covered.

Preheat the airfryer to 400 degrees and place the strips of tofu on a piece of parchment for about twenty minutes, flipping at the halfway mark.

So there you have it–one block of tofu gives you a lovely frittata and enough vegan bacon to feed four people for brunch!

And my darling Jamie-boy made me a delicious foamy soy latte to enjoy with my breakfast! Eek–looks like I’ll need to make a manicure appointment the minute I get back to town!

And our song of the day is The Paper Kites’ “Bloom” because we’re going to see them next week! I’m crossing my fingers that nothing interferes with our attendance this time because we had tickets to see Madeleine Peyroux in April, but James caught a virus and we were unable to attend. I came down with the same thing a few days later, and it turned out to be covid….of course!